1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to exercise machines, and more particularly to multi-position weight machines, and still more particularly to a multi-position resistance tube exercise apparatus for mounting on a wall or, alternatively, on a vehicle, that enables a user to achieve a full body workout, including a core workout, principally from a standing position exclusively, though numerous seated exercises are also possible. The apparatus is well-suited for transport and particularly well adapted for installation on a semi-truck cab for use by truck drivers to maintain good body conditioning during long hauls.
2. Background Discussion
Truck drivers are an important part of our workforce, literally keeping our economy rolling. However, the environment in and the conditions under which they work tend to promote poor health. Domestically, under federal law drivers are permitted to drive eleven hours in any 24 hour period, and when team driving, drivers may remain in the truck after a driving shift, thus remaining in the truck essentially around the clock for days at a time. These extremes arise from the competitive demands in this segment of the transportation economy. Drivers, unfortunately, bear the brunt of the demands, and they do so by subjecting their bodies to hardship in the form of remaining inactive for long hours, maintaining a relative fixed and sedentary (sitting) position for long hours, of subtly (sometimes not so subtly) vibrating vital organs from road vibrations, staying in close proximity to engine noise, sleeping irregular hours, eating low nutritional value fast foods in truck stops and diners, and so forth. The range of adverse health effects include tinnitus, neck pain, low back pain, digestive tract ulcers, obesity, hypertension, back injuries, sleep apnea, headaches, vision problems, and hemorrhoids, among others. Drivers also have high rates of smoking.
Truck drivers do not have easy access to gym facilities for engaging in any kind of a regular workout regimen. What they need is apparatus that provides a convenience, economical, and easy to use system that provides the means to obtain a whole body workout. Free weights are impractical and take up too much room. Weighted plate machines are similarly cumbersome and impractical. Multiposition machines off some promise, but most are currently packaged in an overall system adapted for home use, with ample space for both actual use and storage.
Resistance tube exercise machines also offer some promise. Multi-position resistance tube exercise machines are known. A number of major exercise machine manufacturers make and sell commercial and residential machines either dedicated to particular exercises or a small group of exercises designed to exercise small groups of muscles or, alternatively, machines designed to enable a user to perform a number of exercises and to address a wide range of muscles and muscle groups. Traditionally, the systems have employed moveable weight stacks incorporated into compact frame structures with attachments to the stack from multiple directions and at multiple positions and angles through cable and pulley assemblies so as to provide a user with numerous exercise options.
However, weight stack systems have several liabilities. First, comprehensive systems are very expensive. Second, they require the allocation of significant floor space. Third, they provide an imperfect, and some say inherently flawed, simulation of the kinds of load placed on muscles in natural and competitive athletic environments. Fourth, the load borne by the user tends to vary dramatically through a full range of motion during any given exercise. Fifth, they can present a risk of injury. Sixth, they are not adapted for transport in, and use on and around vehicles. And finally, by their very nature they are, for all practical purposes, permanent fixtures. Increasingly physiatrists, physical therapists, gyms, schools, and especially individuals wishing to experience a full body workout, are relying on resistance tubes and bands as the means to place a load on specific muscles and muscle groups for resistance exercise. For the most part, such “systems” amount to little more than one or more resistance tubes adapted for connection to walls, doors, furniture, and the like, to provide a simple way of achieving multiple angles from which resistance is offered. However, such systems rely on reliable and safe connections in the environment and they are limited by the size and therefore the resilience of the (typically) single tube employed.
Two products currently on the market—the Tower 200 from Body by Jake and the X-Factor from Weider—are door mounted units, use a length of resistance tubing with pulleys and attachment hooks on each end, top and bottom. This limits the stretch to the degree to which the single resistance tube will stretch. There is no adjustment for initiation points other than top and bottom. There are no means provided for mounting the systems on a truck for use by truck drivers while on the road.